Kvedfjordbukta

360 panorama images from Spitsbergen's west coast

Kvedfjordbukta ist an open bay on the west coast of Spitsbergen, between Krossfjord and Magdalenefjord. This rather hostile coastal stretch is very exposed. It consists of either steep rock slopes and some boulder beaches and glaciers. There are seven major glaciers in this area, and they all used to reach the sea, so the whalers named this coast “The seven icebergs”, today “Dei Sju Isfjella” in Norwegian. All these glaciers have retreated in recent decades, so not all of them reach the sea anymore.

This coast could be a challenge on the way north as there was no shelter in case of sudden storms. Hamburgbukta further north is the first place where smaller vessels may anchor, but then you have already almost reached Magdalenefjord with the historically well-known and mostly well-sheltered anchorage at Trinityhamna, east of Gravneset.

The vegetation looks rich and pristine. It is obvious that there is not a lot of trampling here, and there is a lot of fertilization from the little auks that are breeding on the steep scree slopes in large numbers.

Trappers have built a hut in Kvedfjordbukta in the 1920s to have a link between Krossfjord and Kongsfjord to the south, where Ny-Ålesund provides Spitsbergen’s northernmost outlier of zivilisation, and the hunting grounds further north, in Magdalenefjord and Smeerenburgfjord. There was another hut at Ræderfjellet (Tredjebreen). Both have disappeared and there is nothing left but a very few scattered remains so you can barely see where they might once have been.